Patent GB-1093072-A (GB)
Title: Device for automatically unloading film sheet cassettes
Inventor: SANO KAREL MARCEL
IPC: G03D13/00
Filed: 1964-10-15
Abstract: 1,093,072. Endless conveyers. GEVAERT PHOTO-PRODUCTEN N. V. Oct. 15, 1964 [Oct. 15, 1963], No. 42172/64. Heading B8A. [Also in Division G2] Apparatus, for automatically supplying film sheet cassettes to a position where they are unloaded and reloaded, comprises a plurality of hooks 61 arranged to support a series of cassettes 16, means for moving the hooks along a horizontal path and for returning them to the starting point after they have reached the end of the path, and means for gripping each cassette at the end of this path, for lifting it from its associated hook and for transferring it to a predetermined position where the cassette is opened, an exposed film is replaced by an unexposed film, and the cassette is closed and ejected from the apparatus. The hooks 61 are carried on the links of a chain which is driven by two horizontally spaced wheels. Each chain wheel is mounted on one end of a pivot arm, the other end of the arm being carried by a transverse shaft. The chain is tensioned by springs which urge one wheel away from its associated pivot arm and transverse shaft. The hinged lid 19 of each cassette is provided with a recessed plate which engages a hook 61 to suspend the cassette correctly Within a lighttight housing 1 is rotatably mounted a suction member 8. A microswitch operable by a cassette 16 when it reaches the position 70 (Fig. 1) actuates mechanism for opening the housing 1 and a motor 11 which rotates the suction member 8 until it contacts the bottom of the cassette. Having gripped the cassette, the suction member 8 returns over its arcuate path and thus lifts the cassette from its hook 61 and transfers it to a horizontal position within the housing 1. Unloading and loading cassettes.-Each cassette 16 is closed by a lock member 18 secured to the lid 19. When the housing 1 has been closed the cassette is opened by means of a hook 72 which engages an aperture in the lock member 18, the hook 72 being carried by a lever 71. The lever 71 is driven by a motor (not shown) and its path of movement is determined by a cam track 77 attached to the lever 71 and urged into contact with a fixed pin 78. A second suction member 80 is then moved to grip the exposed film and transfer it from the cassette to a processing device. An unexposed film; automatically selected to correspond in size to the cassette, is passed from a second lighttight housing 3 between a pair of rollers 93, 94 to a pair of rollers 82, 83 which are rotatable about a shaft 84 to the position shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, thus directing the film sheet into the empty cassette. The cassette is then closed and the vacuum applied to the suction member 8 is released. A roller which is urged upwards to a position above the level of the cassette within the housing 1 is now free to move to that position, the force exerted on the cassette having been removed. This roller tilts the cassette so that it will move under gravity over a sloping series of parallel idler rollers to a further aperture in the housing 1. This aperture is provided with a light-tight closure.